Vardy goal steadies Eagles in last term

Nathan Vardy is about to join West Coast’s baby boom

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If you had told Nathan Vardy three years ago he would be settled in Perth, he would have laughed in your face.

His words, not mine.

But now the 27-year-old Victorian is an honorary West Australian.

Vardy has bought a house and is preparing to welcome his first child with partner Maddie Smedts in the next two weeks.

The 200cm ruck-forward admits he was unsure how long his stay at West Coast would last when he decided he wanted out of Geelong at the end of the 2016 season. A premiership and a new contract that expires at the end of 2020 have since come his way.

“When I first said to my partner that I think I want to leave Geelong she said: ‘Yeah, that’s fine but just we’re not going to Perth’. Then I ended up saying yes to West Coast,” Vardy recalled.

“If you had said that to me even three years ago I would be here, I would have laughed in your face. When I came I signed a two-year deal, but it was sort of like — I didn’t know how my body was going to hold up with previous years at Geelong.